COLONEL MARITZ

Southland Times, Issue 19311, 1 August 1924, Page 5

COLONEL MARITZ

REASON FOR RELEASE, TO DISSIPATE RACIAL BITTERNESS. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) CAPETOWN, July 31. (Received August 1, 1.0 a.m.) Questioned in the Assembly regarding the release of Colonel Maritz, the Premier said it was clear to him that so long as the former remained a prisoner a feeling of bitterness would prevail, rightly or wrongly, among tens of thousands. All realised that Colonel Maritz did wrong but they must all agree that the sooner he was released, the sooner it would put an end to the feeling of bitterness. Now that the European war was over, now as never before in the history of South Africa, should they be made to feel that the Dutch and English must stand together. There should be an end of the friction of the past. General Hertzog added that Colonel Maritz had not been granted a free pardon, but merely a remission of his sentence.

Maritz served against the British in the South African War and after the peace refused to take the oath of loyalty. He was then naturalised in German SouthWest Africa, but on the formation of the South 1 African Union, he returned to the British territory. On the outbreak of the European war he was appointed to the command of a column for the conquest of German South-West Africa, with his base at Upington, on the Orange River. There he seduced his force, and on October 12, 1914, proclaimed a South African Republic, with himself as President-Com-mander -in-Chief. He was attacked by General Brits and completely broken by October 30, but escaped to Angola, where he was captured by the Portuguese some months later. After the armistice he went to Germany, but returned to South Africa last year. He was arrested on December 26 last at Komati Poort, on the frontier of Portuguese East Africa, on crossing into the territory of the South African Union. At his trial by a special Court on April 22 Maritz pleaded guilty to treason and other charges in connection with the rebellion in South Africa during the European War. He, however, denied the allegations concerning the handing over of equipment and horses to Germans in East Africa and inciting members of the defence force to rebellion. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment without hard labour. The President said that the Court believed accused had gone into rebellion actuated by a desire to secure independence for South Africa, but having that desire he should not have accepted a position in the defence force. Judge Gardiner described, as the most serious feature of the case, the accused's persuading young men of the defence force under his command to rebel, and handing over loyalists to the Germans.